“Bronx c’mon! We gotta get going!” I call, holding the back door of the house open with one hand while the other shielded my eyes from the bright autumn morning sun.
Though the air had a slight chill, it was a beautiful day outside. I was definitely planning to squeeze out the last of this weather before the typical Canadian winter arrived. Four furry legs comes padding across the field, jumps up the porch steps, and slides through the kitchen, leaving large muddy paw prints on the linoleum.
“Ugh, Bronx!” I grumble and grab a roll of paper towel. As I bend down to wipe up the mess, a sloppy wet German Sheppard tongue slapped across my face and I fall back onto my behind. I sigh and grabbed Bronx’s jaw. “You know, I could get rid of you.” I’m met with a disgruntled bark and I laugh, giving him a quick pet on the head.
-
I breathe in the fresh mountain air as I step out onto the front porch, taking a firm grip of Bronx’s leash around my hand. Two years of living here and I don’t think I will ever tire of the serene feeling I get seeing the mountains every day. It makes me feel alive and ready to start the day with a big cheesy smile on my face.
“Ready?” I grin down at Bronx and he looks up at me, his wet sloppy tongue sticking out of his mouth.
Hoisting my backpack over my shoulder, we take off at a run toward Banff’s city center. The long weekend has the town buzzing with tourists and city slickers weaving in and out of the various gift shops. Couples walking through the streets hand in hand sipping on a cup of Starbucks, families taking pictures in front of life-sized stuffed bears situated outside of store doors, and kids eagerly clutching bags of freshly made fudge. The atmosphere was alive with excitement. Bronx and I weave through the crowd with ease, having been used to groups of tourists by now. We stop in front of Evelyn’s Coffee Bar and I quickly loop the end of Bronx’s leash around a pole. I step into the quaint, cozy coffee shop and was met by Mariah, the enthusiastic barista who spends her summers working in Banff while staying with her grandparents at their cottage.
“London!” she squeals. I give her a warm smile as she hands me my usual; a green tea soy latte with a chocolate croissant.
“Hey Mariah,” I greet, handing her a five and some change. “Aren’t you supposed to be back in Calgary for school?”
“Yeah, but I decided to pick up some shifts for the long weekend before I fully delve back into my books,” she replies, rolling her eyes. “So, my cousin is in town for the winter and he just got a job as a ski instructor!” I raise a speculating eyebrow at her, taking a quick sip of my latte. I automatically knew where this was going. “… and you know, he’s not half bad looking-“
I groan. “Are you still on that? Goodbye, Mariah!” I call behind my shoulder, quickly grabbing the bag containing the croissant and head out the door.
“One day, London, one day!” I hear her yell out after me and I can’t help but giggle as I unloop Bronx’s leash.
By the time I arrive at the Banff National Park office, I’ve worked up a good sweat despite the chill in the air. “Bout time London,” a booming voice exclaims, one that can belong to nobody else but my boss. He’s a tall, muscular guy in his early 40’s; his excellent physique could be credited to the fact that he’s been working for Banff National Park activities sector since he was in college. He grins at me, pearly white teeth set against a dark tan.
“It’s September Mark, shouldn’t that orange Hawaiian tan of yours be gone by now?” I tease as I enter my office, the door labeled “London Cartier: Activity Lead”. I take a seat at my desk and bite into my chocolate croissant, firing up my computer.
“You’re just jealous, Snow White,” was his reply as he disappears out of my office and I scowl after him. I glance down at my pale hands and roll my eyes. He comes back not ten seconds later with a piece of paper in his hand, a ball of energy as his usual self. “You know London, you’d think that with the amount of time you spend outdoors and with the scorching summer we just had, you’d be graced with at least a tiny bit of colour by now.”
I frown at him. “I don’t tan, I burn,” I say matter-of-factly. “Hence why I run for the shade.” I log onto my computer as he places the piece of paper onto my desk.
“So, first order of business-“ before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a head of spiky blonde hair poking into my office.
“Your day group is here London,” Jeremy, the recently hired junior tour guide, proclaims and gives me a warm smile.
“Okay, thanks Jeremy. Can you kindly have them sit and read through the brochure?”
“Sure thing. Let me know if you need anything else.” He disappears and Mark turns back to me, a teasing grin on his face.
“Don’t even start,” I mutter, finishing off my chocolate croissant and brushing off my fingers.
“He would fight a mountain lion for you,” Mark says with a knowing chuckle. I give him an exasperated look and motion toward the paper for him to stop fooling around and get started. “Alright, alright. So your day group today, I had to switch it.” He gives me an apologetic smile and continues. “Linda’s still stuck in the city, so I gave her your one o’clock to three to give her some time to get here.” He points to the schedule and I see my name switched to the day group for 10am. “So you’ll be taking care of these guys. It’s the North Calgary basketball team, part of their championship winning was a mountain bike trip and you get the wonderful opportunity to lead a bunch of hormonal adolescents.”
I laugh and shake my head. “How awfully convenient of you, Mark.”
He grins. “I thought you’d be the perfect candidate to handle them. The good news is, after you’re done with this group you’re free to take off for the day.” He takes the paper and looks at me expectantly. “We’ll need to print out waiver forms and the like.”
“Already on it,” I reply as the printer hums to life.
“See London,” he exclaims, turning on his heel and stepping out of my office. “I knew I hired you for a reason.”
Settling down a group of teenage boys is an easier challenge than I thought. The waivers are signed, rules and regulations explained, and they’re now off with Kristen, the equipment manager, to gather their bikes and helmets. I chalked it up to the boys being eager and excited to bike up a mountain, but Mark had a different opinion. “Do you see how they’re hanging on to your every word?” he says with a booming laugh. “London, London, the effect you have on the young ones! They’re quite a catch.”
“That’s disgusting!” I exclaim, making a face at him. I swear Mark is more like a crazy annoying uncle than my boss. “I’m turning twenty-five for crying out loud.” I cringe at how old that sounds.
“Yep, and still on the market,” he replies. As if on cue, Jeremy appears in the main foyer, backpack and helmet in his hands. “Speaking of the devil!” booms Mark and my eyes widen at him. “I’ve asked Jer here to assist you today with the group. Hope you don’t mind.” And with a devilish grin, Mark proceeds back to his office, leaving Jeremy and I to stand awkwardly facing each other.
“So,” he says, swinging his backpack over his shoulder. “Mark said this is good training for me. I’m pretty stoked about it.”
I smile at him, genuinely excited for his first mountain bike tour as an assistant. “I love being up there,” I say as we head towards the back door to the equipment building. “It’s really something else.”
“You have a pretty sweet job,” he replies. I silently agree.
I consider myself very lucky to have landed this position. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences at the University of British Columbia three years ago, I was expecting to spend my days in a science lab testing dirt for septic levels. In fact, I had spent the first year after graduation doing just that. I worked for a lab that mainly had engineering clienteles, and so we were always under tight deadlines to test soil before a new building or bridge was built. I quickly became tired of working 12-hour days, weekends, and basically not having a life. The money was great, but I never found money to be a motivator or my main source of happiness in life. So I set off to steer my career in a different direction. I was applying for every non-lab position that I could, having sent my resume to Banff National Park on a long shot. Mark had called me back the following week, informing me of a new position opening up for an activity leader. I found myself packing up my whole life to move to Banff and taking Bronx with me. It was quite the lifestyle change going from a large and busy city like Vancouver to a small and reserved town like Banff. The first few months were a hard transition, but my new coworkers and the peacefulness of being surrounded by mountains had made it easier. Everyone was so nice and welcoming; they even threw an icebreaker party for me where we played drinking games and charades.
I was trained to fill in the role of doing mountain bike tours in the summer and fall and as a snowboarding instructor during the winter. Luckily, I was born into a family of two brothers and my very active Dad who would always take us mountain biking, camping, hiking, skiing, and snowboarding as kids. My environmental background made me a sure candidate, as a large chunk of the training had to do with survival in a natural environment. During my interview, Mark had been impressed with my exceptional knowledge of which plants were okay to eat, which were poisonous, and how to start a fire in extreme weather conditions. The hardest part was conditioning my body for all of the activity that I was doing on a daily basis. I found myself at the gym doing cardiovascular endurance as well as weight training and yoga. My diet changed from fast food to lean meats and low carbohydrates. I must admit though, I am in the best shape of my life at 24 years old.
I had always been petite, but with no muscular tone in my body whatsoever. My long and thick mane of dark brown hair didn’t help, as it seemed to overpower my small body. Nowadays, I surprise even myself with how much life and energy I have on a daily basis. I guess, with the work I do, it’s absolutely necessary.
“Are you guys all set?” I ask with a big grin on my face to the group of boys who are now excitedly testing out their rented mountain bike gear. I’m met with enthusiastic replies all at once and I can’t help but laugh as I grab my own gear. “Oh by the way,” I motion towards Bronx, who is standing like a guard dog not too far away. “That’s Bronx and he comes with me on every bike tour. He’s trained to navigate our way back in case we get lost, or run for help if any type of emergency happens. So you’re in safe hands.”
“The only hands I’d like to be in, is hers,” I hear one boy say quietly to his friend, but it was loud enough for me to hear. I blink and look over at Jeremy who winks at me knowingly. He had clearly heard too. I groan inwardly. It’s going to be quite a day.
By the end of the bike tour, I am mentally exhausted. Even with Jeremy as my assistant and the basketball team’s head coach with us, it was hard to lead and instruct a group of twenty adolescent boys. Some wanted to go off exploring on their own, a few were treating the mountain bikes like BMXs trying to pop wheelies and tricks, and most of them complained. A lot. By the time the last of the gear were returned and goodbyes and thank-yous were said, I am silently cursing out every teenage boy on the planet. All I want to do at the moment is head home with Bronx and lay in a hot bath of Epsom salts.
“Hey, London!” I hear Jeremy’s voice call behind me and I look back as he catches up with Bronx and I. “I wanted to ask you a question.”
“What’s that?” Oh no. Please, don’t let it be –
“Well, since we’re both off now … I was kinda … sort of wondering if, you know, we could have lunch together?”
Damn it. “Maybe some other time, Jer?” I reply cautiously and immediately feel bad at his crestfallen face. “I mean,” I add quickly. “I’m just so tired after dealing with that day group that I really just want to head home and rest up.”
He nods and gives me a reassuring smile. “No problem, London. Next time.” With that, he heads off into the office building and I let out a sigh of relief.
“Come on, Bronx,” I say quietly to the equally exhausted looking dog beside me. “Let’s head home.”
On the way home, I stop at a grocery store and pick up a few ingredients for dinner tonight, including a nice bottle of white wine. As I’m untying Bronx from a pole near the street curb, the passenger door of a large truck swings open and hits me on my behind, making me lunge forward and nearly falling on top of Bronx. “Hey!” I call out furiously and turn around. I’m met with a pair of striking blue eyes who glances at Bronx and then gives me a pointed look.
“You shouldn’t leave your dog there,” he mutters and his jaw clenches. My mouth opens to reply, but he quickly walks away and into the grocery store I had just come from.
Annoyed, I finish untying Bronx’s leash, muttering to myself. “The nerve of some people nowadays.”
“Hey, you alright?” a gentle voice asks and I look up again to see another pair of blue eyes, this one more of a clear blue. He’s tall, blonde, and particularly handsome. “I’m sorry about my friend there; he can be an ass sometimes.”
“Yeah, tell me about,” I mutter and immediately regret my rudeness toward the asshole’s friend, who was clearly just trying to be polite and apologize.
He nods understandingly. “You have a good day miss,” he says and quickly follows his friend into the grocery store.
I sigh. “Some day it’s been so far.”
I shove the grocery bag into my backpack, take a firm hold of Bronx’s leash, and set off at a run to clear my mind off of the rude encounter with the asshole stranger. By the time I reach my block, my mood has lightened a bit and I’m eager to fix up a hearty lunch and take that much needed relaxing bath. I slow to a stop a few houses before mine when I notice the same large pick-up truck from town parked across the street. I stare at it and, sure enough, the same two guys are unloading bags and suitcases from the back of the truck. The tall blonde immediately notices me and grins, motioning for me to cross the street. His asshole friend is carrying a large box and disappears into the house. Reluctantly, I walk across the street to him; Bronx following close beside me.
“You’re the girl from town,” he says, jumping down from the truck and holding out a hand for me to shake. “I’m Nick.”
I nod, shaking his hand lightly. “London.” I motion towards the brick cottage in front of us. “New neighbours, I’m assuming?”
“Yeah.” He pauses. “Well, not me. My friend Brian over here.” He gestures to the guy with the striking blue eyes who reappears from the house and is now walking towards us. He glances at me, down at Bronx, then jumps onto the back of the truck without a word to pick up another large box. I roll my eyes. How rude. Nick looks at me apologetically. “Listen, I’m sorry about him. He’s just … going through things.”
I nod again, slowly this time. “Yeah well,” I reply pointedly. “We’re all going through things. It was nice meeting you, Nick. Tell your assho- your friend, welcome to Banff.” With that, I turn and jog across the street to my house with Bronx at my feet. As I do, I feel two pairs of blue eyes staring after me.
